Hello! I’d like to share a successful solution to an issue we encountered.
The problem was resolved some time ago, but I only recently found the time to write about it here.
Our issue:
When generating certain routes, we encountered the error “Failed to execute route solution.”
This error occurred intermittently—some routes were generated successfully. Importantly, routes were always built successfully in ArcGIS Pro, and the routing service was successfully published to ArcGIS Portal. However, in Map Viewer, routes couldn’t be generated at all, while in Map Viewer Classic, some routes were generated but not all.
Investigation Results:
Through extensive research, the following observations were made:
- The server logs for successful requests showed a sequence like this:
Request received -> Stops obtained -> Solution ready -> Directions generated -> Values transmitted -> Request processed -> Response received -> Network analyst copy. - However, for failed route requests, the logs followed this sequence:
Request received -> Network analyst copy -> Stops obtained -> Solution ready -> ArcGIS server connection -> Map -> Cached NA -> NA server started.
As we can see, in failed cases, after the solution was successfully created, the process deviates from the successful request sequence. Specifically, directions are not being generated.
To further diagnose the issue, the routing service was tested via REST services. Problematic route coordinates were input, with all parameters set to default. The request returned an error. However, when the "Return Directions" parameter was changed to "No," the request succeeded!
Conclusion:
The error occurs during the generation of route directions for certain cases.
Steps to Solve the Issue:
Investigate the "Directions" section of the network dataset.
Based on similar issues found in the ESRI Community, the language for displaying directions was checked. Additional 'language' attributes were added to the dataset table. The network dataset was updated, but the issue persisted.
Analyze road network attributes.
A problematic route was selected for testing. In ArcGIS Pro, with the route successfully built, the "Show Directions" function was enabled on the Route layer.
Directions typically follow a pattern, such as an action (e.g., "Turn left"), the street type, and its name. However, in some directions, the street name was missing next to the street type.
Upon checking the attributes of such streets, it was evident that the 'name' field was empty.
Root Cause:
The issue was caused by missing street names in the data used to build the tool. This conflict prevented directions from being generated in applications. We fixed the empty values in the name field by replacing them with the text "Name not available," and the issue was resolved. The conflict was evidently caused by the empty values.
